Ex-PM Yoshihide Suga Visits India’s High-Speed Rail Construction Site

By Tatsuya Tanoue / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

14:34 JST, July 6, 2023

AHMEDABAD, India — Former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of the Liberal Democratic Party visited Wednesday the construction site of a high-speed rail system in the Indian city of Ahmedabad that is based on Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train technology.

Under the project, the high-speed rail will connect Ahmedabad, an industrial city, and Mumbai, India’s commercial capital 508 kilometers away. When completed, the train will run between the two cities in about two hours.

“Shinkansen construction made a tremendous contribution to the high economic growth of Japan in the past. I hope this project will smoothly progress with cooperation between both of our countries,” Suga said after the visit.

Suga serves as the chairman of the Japan-India Association, which promotes ties between Japan and India. In his latest visit, Suga was joined by leaders from the economic community, such as East Japan Railway Co. president Yuji Fukasawa, to promote economic exchanges between the two countries.